How I survived cancer – Vast of Bracket

Vast of Bracket opened up to
Vanguardngr.com about his battle with
Lymphoma, (a type of cancer of the
blood) and how he survived. Read the
interview below..

How did it happen?

I don’t know what to say, but first
of all, I want to give thanks to
God. I was very sick. Before I went
to the hospital, I attended a
couple of shows. I wondered how
I was able to perform at the
shows because I was seriously ill.

My partner Obumneme Ali a.k.a
Smash and I, had series of shows
and in a situation where payment
has been made, I had no option
than to grace the stage. We
decided to round off our shows
late last year in order to enable
me take care of my health in
2013. But unfortunately, up till
January this year, we were still
going for concerts. We  even had
to travel to Australia to stage a
concert.

Then, I was visiting one of the hospitals
in Lagos, and that was where I was
diagnosed. They carried out all the
medical examinations, and when the
results came out, the Haematologist
advised me to seek for further
treatment  abroad.

If you have travelled to America or any
Schengen country within two years, you
can apply for a Priority Visa and we
were qualified to do so. We applied and
within four days, the visa came out. We
met a friend in the UK who introduced
us to his brother who is a Medical
Doctor. He assisted us and we met a
Haematologist who advised that I
should re-run all the tests again.

The only thing we didn’t do was the
surgery which I did back home before I
was diagnosed of suffering from blood
cancer. After everything, they started
with the treatment they called “Bone
Marrow”. It wasn’t an easy one, it was
very difficult. I thought I would loose all
the blood in my body but thank God I
survived it. After a week, I started
having complications, I had to return to
the hospital to have blood transfusion
after which I felt better. We spent a lot of
money. At a point, I was hopeless and
was only praying to God for His
mercies.

After the second chemotherapy, I
started exercising because the doctor
advised me to do regular exercise.
However, it was after the third
chemotherapy that the pictures I took
while in the hospital leaked. By then, I
was already bouncing back to life
because I passed through the valley of
the shadow of death. After the fourth
chemotherapy, we shot a video,
“Temperature” in London .

I didn’t even know I could do that. I
initially thought the cycle would be six
but before the fifth chemotherapy, the
doctor informed us that it was going to
be eight. I got confused at that point
and even doubted what they were
doing. I thought they just wanted to
milk me because it was expensive.

My
manager, partner and Chief Executive
Officer however encouraged me to
complete the treatment.
I was only going to the hospital, then to
the gymnasium and back to the house.

After the seventh chemo, I was told to
do a Lumber Punch- they would have to
inject my spine. It was done after the
fifth chemo and it was very painful. I
thought I would be paralysed. I was told
the Lumber Punch was necessary to
prevent the disease from getting to the
brain. At that point, our account was
almost in the red.

Luckily, a friend known as Ugonna
came to London during my third chemo
and was moved when he heard that we
had accommodation problem. He later
gave us some money to look for one.
Ugonna was the only person that
assisted me financially apart from the
prayers and encouragement of my fans
and the media. I did the Lumber Punch
and lost a lot of blood.

Two days after, I went to get another
chemo. When one undergoes chemo, it
kills both the good and the bad cells
and flushes out all the blood in your
system. So, you have to be refreshing.

Imagine losing so much blood after the
Lumber Punch and after the chemo. I
was almost a dead person. My colour
overnight. I remembered what the
doctor told me that cancer is not the
problem but the treatment.
After a week and a half, I started
exercising, taking juice and everything
that would help build my blood again. I
was finally cleared from the hospital
and I thank God for His mercies. A lot of
people came to our house to rejoice
with us when we returned to the
country during the week. I want to thank
them. The likes of P-Square, Jimmy
Jatt, Dammy Krane, KCee, Chidinma,
Illbliss, JMartins and many others.
What kind of cancer did you have?
I had Lymphoma. It is a blood cancer.

When I asked the doctor what caused
the cancer of the blood, he said, nobody
knows the cause for now. According to
him, it’s like a situation where a dark
complexion couple making a baby and
the baby turns out to be an albino and if
you are asked to explain why, you
cannot tell.

I must say that when I was hospitalized,
my partner was doing a good job. He
would call the producer and they would
make a beat and send it to me. He even
made the chorus. I picked one of the
songs when I came back and hit the
studio. We did one of the tracks, it was
fantastic. We did another song and it
was good as well, all within two days.

During the seven months of your ordeal,
what kept you going?
What kept me going was God. Before I
went for the treatment, I saw myself
dying slowly. We got the visa and
contacted the Medical Doctor that
attended to us. It was no doubt the
handiwork of God. This doctor handles
only cancer related cases.My family, my
manager, partner and CEO were there
for me. We travelled together. They
made sure I was well taken care of,
while my ordeal lasted.

Interestingly, when the picture I took
while in the hospital leaked, I was
reading the outpour of love, prayers and
soothing words from my fans. Some of
them even said, they would die if I die.
Then the press guys were there for me.
They  were keeping tabs of my
progress and informing my fans duly.
All of these,  did a whole lot in keeping
me going. That’s why I got the courage
and I know that it has always been God,
my family, the media and my fans.
What have you learnt from your
experience?
I learnt that life is very precious. No
matter what you do and wherever you
are, don’t look down on anybody
because you don’t know who will help
you tomorrow. Another thing is that you
don’t have to be scared of death. You
have to face the challenge. Live a
normal life. If you are scared of death,
you will die. At a point, when I got very
scared, the sickness came in full force,
but when I started picking courage, it
subsided and I recovered.

Bracket